bridelope

i lay on the grass & feel how
the flowers push up through my spine
threading me to the divine
the will of modor earth

the smell of honey & i hear how
bees whir above my navel
spreading nature’s table
the pollen will of modor earth

a summer of rain & i smell how
petrichor infuses soil & eaves
wedding with fall’s orange leaves
the solemn will of modor earth

the first snow & i see how
my bridal outfit turns to white
shedding trees stand so quiet
in the mollen will of modor earth

by TETIANA ALEKSINA & TONY SINGLE
© All rights reserved 2024

a faraway shore

do you think of me
walking past that ferris wheel
in the desert dark
long after the meadowlark
has left for songs yonder rue

do you think of me
standing on that worn jetty
a faraway face
framed within lost time & space
on abstracted rueful sands

do you think of me
hearing the song of the sea
near that ferris wheel
in a desert shell to heal
from rue the day we parted

by TETIANA ALEKSINA & TONY SINGLE
© All rights reserved 2024

smoking kills

today our god smoked a lot
just look at those heavy clouds
then he took a massive piss
for nine hundred sixty hours

noah chopped huge planks of wood
did it with his chopping fist
slapped together a wee boat
before the waters could rise

the re’em poked its nose inside
but noah shooed it away
It was crowded & stuffy
re’ems were bigger than blue whales

upset, the re’em craned its neck
& pricked god’s arse with its horn
upset, god smote the re’em back
right up its almighty crack

then the firmament crackled
& the waters subsided
like gurgling down a drain hole
along with the re’em’s remains

noah’s wee boat went aground
atop a big arse mountain
creatures piled out & ran off
scattering every which way

noah then got himself drunk
pitched a tent, slept in the buff
put one son in a tizzy
the others covered his bits

happily ever after
multiply & fill the earth
venerate or freaking else
these our smoking god decreed

as a sign of his good grace
covenant with man & beast
a rainbow was set in clouds
then the gays came & stole it

by TETIANA ALEKSINA & TONY SINGLE
© All rights reserved 2024

fumes & booms

don’t light a cigarette
in a house of oily rags
if you do, be ready to
extinguish your reeky buns
‘cos methane doesn’t come
only from cross volcanoes
& farting has never been
an insured accident
so, eat way less baked beans
if you really want to live
or better, just stop smoking
go on a jet ski trip instead

by TETIANA ALEKSINA & TONY SINGLE
© All rights reserved 2024

all that remains

we are born
empty phials for memories
accumulated & preserved
for all time
drop by drop
warm & cold, sweet & bitter
laughter in sorrow & love
fumblers of rhyme

leaving’s never easy
but look, there, the stars
hopeful like our dreams

shade by shade
a unicorn’s funerary wreath
a pallbearer’s rainbow raiment
all is sublime
& then we die
caulked in eternity boxes
blest in rot for posterity
our burial heim

leaving’s never easy
but look, there, the stars
hopeful like our dreams

by TETIANA ALEKSINA & TONY SINGLE
© All rights reserved 2025